AN ANIMAL lover complained to Woolworths about a Hallowe'en toy depicting a rat screaming as it dies in a trap.

Elaine Evans, 46, of Great Boughton, was shocked to see the plastic life-sized rat on a low shelf in the Broughton store.

The £9.99 toy, for ages three and upwards, has also been stocked in the Hallowe'en department on Foregate Street, Chester.

The mother-of-three, who has five cats, said: 'It is a big rat and had its head in a rat trap. You press a button and it wriggles and writhes from side to side, while emitting a really high-pitched scream of agony. It was absolutely horrible.

'It made my 12-year-old daughter run off because it was so horrendous. I think that anything like that which promotes animal cruelty is out of order and should not be on the shelves of a family shop.

'What does it have to do with Hallowe'en anyway? '

Mrs Evans, a fine arts student at NEWI in Wrexham, asked the store assistant manager to remove the toy from the shelves but he refused and told her to call Woolworths customer services.

A spokesman from Woolworths said: 'We regularly hold research groups with our customers and receive feedback.

'Products such as this are in high demand at Hallowe'en and are popular with our customers.'